Various types of textile machines, such as spinning frames and the like, employ various types of rolls in the drafting of the fibrous textile material. When the strand becomes broken for one reason or another it is common for the fibrous material to become wound around and accumulate on the rolls, and this condition is commonly referred to as a "lap-up." It is the common practice for the textile machine attendant to remove the lap-up by using a pocket knife to cut through and separate the lap-up from the roll and then manually remove the same. In many instances, the pocket knife blade damages the roll covering so that the roll has a greater tendency to pick up fibrous material and the roll may become damaged to the point that it is no longer usable. In some cases the attendant is provided with a suitable hooked blade which is shaped on the outer end to prevent the blade from digging into the covering of the roll. However, in either of these instances, the manual removal of the lap-up is a costly and time-consuming operation.